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Alex Poling

Alex Poling

Written Content Creator

Alex, an information technology consultant who recently graduating with his bachelor's degree in systems analysis, is also a part-time high school teacher. When he is not studying or working, he spends his remaining free time playing Magic: The Gathering. He claims his favorite part of Magic is counting to 10.

TES Matchup Battles: Ad Nauseam Tendrils II

Matchup Battles

Ad Nauseam Tendrils is a deck like TES trying to win with the Storm mechanic using [[Tendrils of Agony]]. The main difference is Ad Nauseam Tendrils is built to be a little slower of a deck, using cards like [[Cabal Ritual]] and [[Past in Flames]], to play into the later turns of a game. It Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Sneak & Show II

Matchup Battles

Sneak & Show is a deck that focuses on casting and abusing [[Show and Tell]] and [[Sneak Attack]] in combination with [[Griselbrand]], and [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]]. [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] making the opponent sacrifice six permanents, or [[Griselbrand]] drawing many cards to find an [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] or several counterspells can win the Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Painter

Matchup Battles

Painter is a deck that revolves around the card [[Painter's Servant]] and [[Grindstone]]. [[Painter's Servant]] chooses a color, and then all cards become that color. When you then activate [[Grindstone]], you can continue repeating the process because the cards share at least one color since they are all the same color. The process will repeat Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: 8-Cast

Matchup Battles

8-Cast is the evolution of Karn Echoes. Both are mono-blue artifact based decks that play [[Force of Will]] and [[Chalice of the Void]]. The main differences is that Karn Echos played [[Karn, the Great Creator]] with [[Lion's Eye Diamond]], a sideboard package, [[Echo of Eons]] and [[Hullbreacher]] to lock the opponents out of the game. Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Lands II

Matchup Battles

Lands gets its name from the entire deck being based around lands. Land tutors, assembling land combos, using lands to disrupt the opponent, ramping with lands, and even generating card advantage with lands from one of the more important cards, [[Life from the Loam]]. Ultimately, it wins by trying using [[Thespian's Stage]] to make a Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Aluren

Matchup Battles

Aluren is a creature-based deck trying to abuse [[Aluren]]. They can do this by playing creatures for free and at instant speed to generate card and mana advantage or by winning through a combo. There are two different combinations that win the game with an [[Aluren]] in play. The first is with [[Cavern Harpy]] and Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Jeskai Ragavan

Matchup Battles

Jeskai Ragavan is a midrange deck made up of counterspells, removal spells, and cheap creatures with the main one being [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]]. Ever since its printing, many decks have been trying to use [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]], and the Jeskai shell seems to be doing it the best. Jeskai Ragavan also plays some other new Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Madness

Matchup Battles

Madness is a deck looking to abuse the Madness mechanic, discarding cards from their hand. The goal is to try to get cards like [[Blazing Rootwalla]], [[Hollow One]], and [[Anje's Ravager]] into play for free or cheaply. They can do this quickly by using cheap discard effects to get these creatures into play on the Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: Bant Control

Matchup Battles

Bant Control is an iteration of the previous Snow Control decks that's using green for cards like [[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath]], [[Endurance]], [[Ice-Fang Coatl]], and other sideboard cards. The recent printing of [[Endurance]] has pushed these previous Snow Control decks from Jeskai or four colors to Bant colors. As other Legacy decks evolve and Read More »

TES Matchup Battles: UR Delver III

Matchup Battles

UR Delver is made up of cantrips, burn spells, aggressive creatures, and counterspells. Its game plan is to try to and play an early aggressive creature and then use counterspells and burn spells to disrupt the opponent enough to end the game quickly. [[Dragon's Rage Channeler]], [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]], [[Murktide Regent]], and [[Expressive Iteration]] are Read More »

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